


Took a wrong turn (and we fell down a rabbit hole)

by AnotherUsernameIllForget



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Chaos Ensues, F/F, greenlan as parents, honestly i think i blacked out and wrote this, its so cute it might be a little much, rosie gets her first pet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28530858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherUsernameIllForget/pseuds/AnotherUsernameIllForget
Summary: Emma watched Rosie closely as they entered the pet store, the look of awe on her face causing her chest to feel warm.She didn’t think she would ever get over the feeling of watching her daughter discover something new, and the magic that seemed to come along with it.orRosie Nolan-Greene causes chaos in a pet store
Relationships: Alyssa Greene & Emma Nolan, Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 14
Kudos: 26





	Took a wrong turn (and we fell down a rabbit hole)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello pals, happy new year!! Firstly, let me apologise for this bc I am aware that me and Sydnie (onethingsuniversal) have lowkey been spamming the tag with Rosie content. Its an idea thats really, honestly gotten away from us and we are now just slaves to Rosie and must write about every aspect of her life. Also apologies that its so long, I'm not sure what happened, I rly think I maybe blacked out and then it was suddenly nearly 5000 words. 
> 
> Big shoutout ofc to Sydnie for forcing me into writing this and for birthing the idea of Rosie, who I am merely just borrowing for this fic (and maybe like,, a few more in the future). Also shoutout to TSwift for the title which is now just a kind of joke that got out of hand and I am unable to write a fic without a title from one of her lyrics.
> 
> Anyways, apologies again for the general state of this and I hope you guys enjoy!!

Emma slipped quietly out of the screen door and into the garden, smiling softly as she caught sight of their 3-year-old, Rosie, playing excitedly on the grass.

Alyssa was sat on the deck, her back to Emma, seemingly one eye on the book in her lap and one eye on the toddler. 

Emma walked quickly up behind her wife, wrapping her arms around her neck. She smiled wider as Alyssa hummed, leaning back into her touch as Emma pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

‘Hey,’ she said softly as Alyssa turned as best she could in her arms to face at her.

‘Hey,’ she replied, reaching her hand up to rest on one of Emma’s that was still linked around her neck.

‘How was work?’

‘Meh,’ Emma replied, one hand leaving Alyssa’s shoulder to loosen the tie that was still tightly around her neck, ‘I’d rather have been here with you guys. How was she today?’ 

She glanced up to where Rosie was still playing in the grass, far too interested in flattening Emma’s perfectly manicured lawn with her toy truck to notice that her mom had returned home. 

‘Yeh good,’ Alyssa said, a gentle smile creeping onto her face as she watched their daughter, ‘She’s very excited about your trip tomorrow.’

Emma rolled her eyes. The week before, during a very exciting bedtime story about a dog that lived in a pet store, she had somehow found herself being persuaded by her 3 year old that maybe they needed to pay a trip to the pet store too.

Alyssa had been far from pleased when Emma had eventually crawled into bed, apologising profusely and reasoning that they could probably just get a fish and call it a day, but neither woman could deny that Rosie’s pure excitement at the thought of going to see all the animals wasn’t infectious.

Alyssa had some work to catch up on, so Emma had agreed to take Rosie to the store the following week, and the girl had been beside herself with excitement ever since. 

The two women let a comfortable silence descend over them as they watched their daughter play, relishing the chance for a moment of peace before the excitement of a toddler caused a chaos that seemed to be ever present in their house. 

Emma leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Alyssa’s lips, feeling the other woman smile into it, one hand coming up to stroke Emma’s cheek gently. 

Emma didn’t think she would ever get over the feeling of kissing Alyssa, even after all these years.

She pressed forward, attempting to deepen the kiss, but was cut off by the feeling of a small body barrelling into her legs, and two thin arms winding themselves around her knees.

Emma counted down from 5 in her head, not wanting to stop kissing Alyssa just yet.

5, 4, 3, 2, -

‘Yucky!’ came a small voice and Emma pulled back, grinning at the toddler who was looking up at her parents with a look of disgust.

‘Not yucky!’ Emma said in mock disbelief, bending down to scoop Rosie up so she was at eye level.

‘Is!’ replied Rosie, pouting a little.

Emma shook her head fondly.

‘What’s up kiddo?’ she asked, gently wiping some dirt from Rosie’s cheek with her thumb.

The girl frowned, her tiny eyebrows furrowing and her mouth pouting as she looked up at the sky as if she was thinking.

Emma glanced at Alyssa while Rosie thought, her wife looking between them with a look of pure love in her eyes. 

She opened her mouth as if to say something but was interrupted.

‘CLOUDS!’ shouted Rosie abruptly, and Emma looked at her in confusion, before following her waving hand up to the sky and realising that her daughter may have taken her question a bit too literally.

She grinned at the girl, ‘I guess you’re right, there’s lots of clouds huh?’ 

Rosie nodded her head enthusiastically and Emma heard Alyssa chuckle at her side. 

Emma placed Rosie back on the ground gently, ruffling her hair affectionately as she did so.

‘Mama?’ the girl asked, tugging lightly at the bottom of Emma’s shirt, ‘We see the aminals tomorrow? Mama promised!’

‘Animals, baby,’ Alyssa corrected with a smile as the toddler frowned again, ‘Yes, your mama is taking you to see the animals tomorrow.’

‘Cos mama promised,’ Rosie replied triumphantly.

Emma laughed, ‘Yes I did. And what happens if you break a promise? 

‘The monster eats Rosie up.’ Rosie replied, a serious expression on her face.

‘Now I wonder who’s told you that?’ Alyssa asked, glancing slyly at Emma who was smiling proudly down at the girl.

‘That’s right, kiddo, and don’t you forget it!’ 

* * *

‘Again, again, again!’

Emma sighed, flipping back to the beginning of the book.

‘Okay, okay Ro, we can have it one more time okay but then you have to go to sleep, or we can’t go on our special trip tomorrow.’

The girl’s eyes went wide and she immediately quietened down, nodding solemnly.

‘Are you not bored of the doggy in the pet store yet?’ Emma asked as the toddler snuggled into her side, praying that she would say yes and they could read literally any book other than this one.

‘No!’ said Rosie loudly, and Emma stroked her hair softly, shushing her under her breath. 

‘Mama and Rosie go see aminals like the story!’

Emma smiled, ‘Yes, that’s right, but you’re going to see so many animals tomorrow, so why don’t we read something else?’

‘Noooo!’ replied Rosie defiantly, ‘Aminals, aminals, animals.’

‘A-ni-mals, baby, not aminals. Your mommy is gonna go crazy if you don’t get that right soon!’

‘Anminals,’ said Rosie frowning, clearly focusing all her efforts into trying to get the word right.

‘Well, close enough,’ said Emma, opening the book to the first page, ‘Okay, I’m only reading this again if you help me with the animal noises this time, okay?’

Rosie nodded madly, wrapping her fingers tightly around Emma’s hand that wasn’t holding the book, and looking at her expectantly.

‘Okay, so, this is Mr Dog and he lives in the pet store. What noise does Mr Dog make?’

Emma glanced at Rosie, who was looking up at her shyly. She tried not to let her heart melt at the sight, her daughter looking up at her through her long eyelashes that were so like Alyssa’s.

‘Shall we do it together?’ she asked softly, ‘I can help you out, what do you think?’

Rosie nodded quickly and Emma gave her a reassuring smile.

‘Okay, so Mr Dog says woof, woof, woof. Can you do that?’

‘Woof, woof, woof!’ mimicked Rosie, looking pleased with herself.

‘Perfect!’ said Emma equally as proudly, ‘Right, let’s see what we have next.’

She turned the page.

‘Mr Dog lives in the pet store with all of his friends. Let’s go and meet them. First, we have Claire the cat. What noise does Claire make?’

Emma looked expectantly at her daughter as she furrowed her brow, clearly deep in thought.

‘Um,’ she said before her eyes lit up, ‘MEOW, MEOW, MEOW!’

‘That’s right Ro, good job!’

Rosie giggled excitedly, her hand already grabbing at the page in an attempt to turn it.

‘Okay, okay, who do we have next?’

The story continued, Mr Dog introducing them to Maggie the mouse, Harry the horse, and Connie the cow. 

Emma honestly wasn’t sure why there was a horse or a cow in a pet store, but she was grateful at least that the book didn’t expect her to somehow work out what noise a hamster made.

She just hoped to whatever god there was that Rosie wasn’t expecting to see a horse the next day, because she knew she would be severely disappointed. 

They eventually reached the last page, and Emma couldn’t help but feel relieved that the story, which wasn’t exactly ground-breaking fiction, was nearly over.

‘And finally, here we have Mr Dog’s best friend in the whole world,’ she read, glancing down to see Rosie’s eyelids growing heavier as she snuggled in closer to her side.

She lowered her voice, ‘Daisy duck has lived in the pet store almost as long as Mr Dog, and they’ve been firm friends ever since. What noise does Daisy make?’

‘Duck?’ Rosie said, looking up at Emma quizzically through tired eyes.

‘Yeah, Daisy is a ducky, look,’ Emma replied, pointing to the illustration of Daisy in the book, who was sporting a silk scarf and a 1920s bucket hat for reasons unknown to Emma.

‘Ducky!’ Rosie said excitedly, smashing her finger into the picture of the duck a few times. 

‘Yeah! And what noise does a ducky make?’ Emma asked, gently pulling Rosie’s hand away from the book before it could rip. 

‘Cheep cheep?’ Rosie replied uncertainly.

Emma smiled, ‘Very, very close, but not quite! You’re thinking of a birdy. What noise does a ducky make?’

Rosie stared at her blankly, looking from the picture of the duck in the book to Emma as though it would somehow help her work out the noise.

‘Shall I help you out?’ Emma asked, ‘Duckies say quack, quack, quack.’

There was silence for a moment where Rosie continued to stare at her mom, before she suddenly burst out into giggles.

Emma smiled amusedly at her.

‘What’s so funny?’ she asked with a chuckle, the girl’s laughter becoming infectious.

‘Silly mama,’ she says between laughs, ‘quack, quack, quack!’

‘Why is that silly?’ Emma asked, ‘That’s what noise they make.’

At this Rosie shrieked with delight, evidently finding the quacking of a duck to be one of the funniest things she’d ever heard.

Alyssa wandered to the door, clearly drawn in by all the commotion.

‘What’s going on in here?’ she asked, an amused expression on her face at the sight of her wife and her daughter both in fits of laughter.

‘Mommy, mommy!’ cried Rosie, ‘Mama says ducky says quack, quack, quack! Silly mama!’

‘Silly mama indeed,’ replied Alyssa with a laugh of her own, coming to sit on their daughter’s bed next to Emma and kissing Rosie on the forehead.

Before long, all three were laughing heartily, intermittently interrupted as Rosie shouted ‘quack, quack, quack’ again and again until she’d tired herself out and eventually, to Emma and Alyssa’s relief, fell asleep.

As she crawled into bed, wrapping her arms around Alyssa’s waist, Emma prayed that tomorrow wouldn’t be a long day.

* * *

Emma watched Rosie closely as they entered the pet store, the look of awe on her face causing her chest to feel warm.

She didn’t think she would ever get over the feeling of watching her daughter discover something new, and the magic that seemed to come along with it.

The toddler stood still, dazzled by the bright neon lights of the store, and Emma could tell she was taking a moment just to process everything that she could see.

‘Rosie, are you gonna hold mama’s hand?’ she asked, offering her hand to the girl who took it quickly, wrapping her fingers as best she could around Emma’s. 

Emma smiled down at her, squeezing her hand softly as the girl looked up at her expectantly.

She was just about to ask what Rosie wanted to go and see first when she felt a tug on her arm and the girl took off towards one side of the store, running as fast as her little legs would carry her.

Emma stumbled along behind her, trying not to trip over her feet or the toddler who was currently towing her. She briefly wondered if this was what it was like to have a dog, but pushed that thought to the back of her mind, imagining Alyssa’s exasperation if she compared their daughter to a dog.

Rosie came to an abrupt halt next to a tall man who was browsing the shelves, a lead attached to a dog in his hand.

‘Mr Dog, Mr Dog!!’ Rosie exclaimed excitedly, pointing at the dog, and drawing the attention of its owner.

Emma supposed the dog did look somewhat like Mr Dog from the book. It was a black lab, and while it wasn’t wearing a bowler hat, Emma could understand why seeing a similar dog in a pet store had led Rosie to that conclusion.

The owner smiled down at Rosie as she took a tentative step forwards, stopping again as the dog turned towards her.

‘Sorry,’ Emma muttered to the owner in a low voice, ‘we’ve been reading a book about a dog that lives in a pet store and I guess it kinda looks like your dog.’

The owner chuckled, ‘Well, I’m sure Barry will be very happy with all the attention.’

Emma blinked at him, trying desperately not to react to the fact that the dog was called Barry. She couldn’t wait to tell Alyssa later. Or her Barry for that matter. God, Dee Dee was going to have a field day. 

Rosie reached out a hand towards Barry, who was now sniffing gently at the girl’s jacket, and Emma squeezed her hand.

‘Hang on Ro, you’ve gotta ask the man nicely before you touch his doggy, just in case the doggy isn’t very friendly.’

Rosie scrunched her eyebrows together.

‘Mr Dog always friendy’ she said matter of factly.

Emma sighed, not wanting to crush her daughters dreams by telling her that the dog in front of her was not, in fact, Mr Dog himself.

‘I know,’ she replied, settling on a half-truth, ‘but it’s a nice thing to do anyway, just in case Mr Dog isn’t having a nice day and he doesn’t want to be touched.’

Rosie nodded solemnly, seemingly understanding what Emma was saying.

‘So, what do we say to Mr Dog’s owner?’ Emma prompted. 

Rosie looked up at the man, shrinking back behind Emma’s legs shyly as he smiled down at her. 

Emma crouched down next to her, ‘Shall we ask together?’

Rosie nodded nervously, studiously avoiding looking at the man.

‘Okay, so we say excuse me, is it okay if I pet your doggy please? Can you say that?’

Rosie toed the floor shyly with her boot.

‘Scuse me,’ she mumbled quietly.

Emma smiled reassuringly, giving her hand another squeeze.

‘Bit louder, Ro,’ she whispered, ‘so the man can hear you.’

She saw Rosie blink quickly, as though preparing herself, before she lifted her head and stared at the man.

‘Scuse me, Rosie pet Mr Dog pease?’ she said, Emma feeling pride creeping into her chest.

The owner smiled at her, ‘Of course you can.’

A huge grin spread over Rosie’s face as she held her hand out again, allowing the dog to sniff her gently before placing it on his head.

‘Be gentle, Ro,’ Emma said, watching as her daughter began gently patting Barry on the head, the dog clearly enjoying being the centre of attention.

Once satisfied that Mr Dog had received more than enough pets, Rosie withdrew her hand triumphantly, looking up at the owner with more confidence than before. 

‘Fank you lots,’ she said smiling toothily at him, and the owner smiled back at her in return.

‘Hey, shall we get a picture to show mommy that we met Mr Dog?’ Emma asked, pulling out her phone, not wanting to miss an opportunity to document an exciting moment in her daughter’s life.

Rosie nodded excitedly as Emma manoeuvred her into a position next to the dog, both child and dog looking into the camera.

She snapped a few pictures, Rosie grinning wildly in each one while Barry looked pretty unbothered. 

She was about to put her phone away and retrieve her child when Barry turned to Rosie, and before she had time to react, he had licked her right across the cheek.

There was a moment of silence where no one reacted, and Emma held her breath. 

She prayed that there would be no tears. Please god, no tears today.

Instead, much to her relief, Rosie burst out laughing, wiping a clumsy hand down her cheek.

‘Mama, Mr Dog gived Rosie kiss!!’ she laughed gleefully, and Emma laughed too, petting Barry on the head once more before standing up again.

‘Aren’t you lucky!’ she said, and Rosie beamed up at her, nodding wildly.

Bidding goodbye to Barry and his owner, Emma walked Rosie to the other side of the store, preparing herself for whatever animal Rosie was about to choose to bring home.

She really hoped it wasn’t a lizard. She really hated those things, and the thought of having to feed it live bugs sent a shiver down her spine.

Yeah, maybe she should steer Rosie away from the reptile section.

‘Okay!’ she said brightly, bringing Rosie to a stop just before they reached the animal enclosures, ‘Have you thought about what kind of animal you might like to get?'

Rosie looked between Emma and the enclosures, nodding excitedly. Emma could feel the anticipation radiating off the toddler.

‘Good! But remember, mommy said we can’t get anything too big, and you have to promise that you’ll help us look after it, okay?’

Rosie nodded again, clearly only half listening to what Emma was saying as she began to jump up and down. This conversation was clearly over.

‘So,’ prompted Emma, ‘what animals would you like to see?’

A grin split across Rosie’s face.

‘Ducky!!’ she said excitedly, trying to pull Emma in the direction of all the animals. ‘Rosie wants ducky! Quack, quack, quack!’

‘Woah,’ said Emma, trying desperately to control the over-excited toddler at her feet, ‘I don’t think they have duckies in the pet store, Ro.’

Rosie stopped bouncing, turning back to Emma with a look of horror on her face. Emma couldn’t help but notice how cute it was, such a big emotion mirrored on such a tiny face.

‘No ducky?’ Rosie asked.

‘No baby, there’s no duckies in the pet store, but maybe we can go and look at the guinea pigs to start with? What do you think?’

Rosie blinked up at Emma, clearly trying to process the fact that she wasn’t about to meet a duck. 

‘Mr Dog and Daisy ducky?’ she asked, pointing towards where they’d met Mr Dog earlier.

Emma supposed she was having a hard time wrapping her mind around that fact that, if they’d met Mr Dog, then of course they should be able to meet Daisy Duck. They _were_ best friends after all.

‘No Ro, I’m sorry,’ she said crouching again to the girl’s eye level, ‘I don’t think Daisy Duck is here today.

‘Rosie wants ducky,’ the girl repeated, this time more sadly, and Emma saw what was about to happen right before it did.

Rosie’s bottom lip started trembling, and Emma watched helplessly as her eyes began to fill with tears. She could only hope that this was going to be a quick cry and not a full-blown meltdown.

Rosie had pulled that in the grocery store the other day when Emma wouldn’t let her get 3 different types of cereal, and she was still trying to erase the stares of her fellow shoppers from her mind, gawking at a very angry Rosie sat right in the middle of the breakfast aisle screaming.

‘Hey,’ she said as the toddler’s face crumpled, wiping gently at the tears that were falling down her cheeks, ‘I’m sure there’s lots of Mr Dog’s other friends that we can meet. What do you say?’

‘Rosie. Wants. Ducky.’ she said again, this time more emphatically and Emma resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Sometimes her daughter reminded her so much of Alyssa and her stubbornness, it was like having a snapshot into her wife’s childhood. 

She really had to feel sorry for Alyssa’s mom in that respect.

Rosie opened her mouth as if to scream and Emma clamped a hand over it, sensing the chaos that was about to ensue before it could fully develop.

‘Rosie, you can’t scream in the pet store,’ she said firmly, switching fully to responsible parent mode, ‘because the animals only have very little ears and you’ll make them upset if you make a big loud noise, okay?’

Rosie didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway, crying harder but more quietly. 

Emma sighed, looking around desperately for any solution to the issue. She cursed that stupid book for putting a stupid duck in a pet store. When had anyone ever seen a duck in a pet store??

She weighed up her options. 

She could cut her losses and just get out of there, ending the situation for the time being, but she didn’t want to disappoint Rosie even more than she already was, and she didn’t think it was fair to end the trip all together just because her daughter had got a bit confused. 

Or, she could hope to try and distract Rosie with the array of other, non-duck animals that were in the store.

Her eyes landed on one of the pet store workers cleaning out a hutch, and she decided on an even better idea.

‘Okay, okay,’ she said, stroking a wet hair that was currently plastered to Rosie’s face by her tears out of the way, ‘how about we go and ask that nice lady over there if they have any ducks?’

At this, Rosie immediately stopped crying, rubbing at her eyes and nodding gently.

Emma noted that down as a successful first step of her plan.

She grabbed Rosie’s hand and led her over to the woman, who was humming quietly as she went about her job.

‘Excuse me,’ Emma said as they got closer, the woman turning to them with a bright customer service smile that faded into a real smile when she caught sight of a still tear-stained Rosie. 

‘Me and Rosie here were wondering if you had any ducks that we could see?’

‘Ducky, ducky!’ chorused Rosie, looking up at the woman expectantly before getting immediately distracted by the rabbit that was in the hutch that the woman had been cleaning out.

The woman’s smile faltered at this, a confused look crossing her face.

Emma, taking advantage of Rosie’s momentary distraction, leaned closer to the woman.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, ‘she’s really caught up on the idea of getting a duck today and I’m really trying to avoid a meltdown.’

The woman smiled kindly at her, as if she’d been faced with this situation thousands of times.

‘Is there any way you would be able to maybe help me steer her towards something else?’

The woman nodded, winking conspiratorially at Emma. She looked to Emma for permission before bending down beside Rosie, who was still fascinated by the rabbit hopping around in the enclosure.

‘Do you like him?’ she asked kindly, Rosie’s eyes snapping to her, wide and uncertain at the presence of a stranger talking to her.

She looked up at Emma, who gave her a reassuring smile and a nod, her tiny hand tightening in Emma’s.

She nodded shyly at the woman before staring back at the rabbit who was currently curling itself up to go to sleep. 

‘How about we take him out and have a look? See if he likes you?’

The woman stood up, bending slowly into the enclosure and scooping the rabbit up gently before it had a chance to move away.

It seemed quite content to snooze in the woman’s hands as she brought it down to eye level for Rosie to see. 

‘Now,’ she said, ‘what’s your name?’

Rosie blinked at her a minute, still fascinated by the rabbit.

‘Rosie,’ she whispered quietly, again looking up to Emma as if to check that she’d got it right. Emma nodded down at her. 

‘Well Rosie,’ continued the woman, ‘this is my friend Fred. What kind of animal do you think Fred is?’

Rosie frowned and Emma realised that a rabbit was not one of the animals featured in Mr Dog’s pet store. Honestly, why had the author not gone with normal pet store animals?

Rosie scratched her head before shrugging her shoulders at the woman.

‘Cat?’ she said tentatively and the woman smiled.

‘Not quite!’ she replied, before leaning in closer to the girl, ‘Let me tell you a secret. A lot of people who see Fred think he’s a bunny, because he kind of looks like one, doesn’t he?’

Rosie nodded eagerly, and Emma frowned. He looked very like a bunny to her. 

‘But actually, he’s in disguise!’ continued the woman, ‘Fred is actually a duck!’

Rosie’s eyes went wide as she stared at Fred and Emma smiled gratefully at the woman, working out what was going on.

‘Wow Rosie, how cool is that!’ she asked as the toddler once again began to vibrate with excitement. 

The woman held the rabbit out gently towards Rosie, who stroked carefully down his back a few times before grinning back up at Emma. 

‘Ducky pease mama,’ she said happily, her eyes on the rabbit, and Emma breathed a sigh of relief. 

She whispered a quiet thank you to the sales assistant as she stood back up.

‘Shall I get him all ready to go for you guys?’ she asked and Rosie looked up at Emma with pleading eyes.

Emma smiled fondly. Even if she hadn’t been planning on getting the rabbit for Rosie, those eyes would’ve convinced her in a second.

She nodded at the woman and Rosie squealed with excitement, wrapping her arms around Emma’s legs.

‘Fank you, fank you, fank you!’ she said excitedly as Emma ruffled her hair. 

‘Rosie got new friend!’ she singsonged, smiling brightly.

The woman came back over with Fred in a travel crate, clutching a clipboard.

‘Now, I just need to know what name you guys want me to put on the adoption certificate. Don’t worry, you can change it later, but it’s just a formality.’

‘What do you think, Ro?’ Emma asked.

‘FREDTHEDUCK’ the toddler said excitedly and Emma winced, the girl’s lack of syllables and excitement merging the words together so that they sounded more like ‘fuck’ than anything else.

‘Um okay, well maybe we’ll have to workshop that, but I think that’s fine for the time being,’ she said to the woman, scooping Rosie up in an attempt to stop her from her chants of ‘fuck’ that were currently echoing round the store.

The woman only laughed and finished the paperwork.

* * *

Alyssa unlocked the door to their house, a strange sense of dread filling her stomach as she crossed the threshold.

She loved Emma with everything she had, she really did, but she knew she did have the tendency to be dragged along with whatever crazy scheme their 3-year-old proposed.

She hoped against everything that Emma hadn’t somehow been persuaded into a dog or a cat, or something worse like some kind of tarantula. 

She’d been very clear that she wanted to get the girl through her toddler phase before they even considered getting a dog, and she just couldn’t deal with spiders full stop, and she knew that Emma couldn’t either.

The sound of excited babbling reached her ears as she hung up her coat, and she found herself smiling, a warmth filling her chest at the sound of her little family.

‘Hello troublemakers,’ she said as she walked into the living room, both Emma and Rosie’s backs to her as they huddled round what she assumed was some kind of hutch. 

The smell of sawdust was in the air and she quietly thanked the higher powers that it appeared that Emma had gone for something small.

Emma stood as she entered, crossing the room and pressing a soft kiss to her lips that she tried not to melt into.

‘Hi,’ Emma said softly, a shy look crossing her face. It was the same look that had been there for nearly 15 years now, always the same every time she saw Alyssa. 

Alyssa thought she fell more in love every time she saw it.

Rosie glanced up at Alyssa briefly before turning her attention back to whatever was in the hutch. It was evidently a hundred times more interesting than seeing her mom after work. 

Alyssa walked over to her, crouching down next to her as she took in the rabbit that was sat at the other end of the hutch, chewing contently on a carrot. 

She glanced gratefully at Emma and Emma shot her a wide grin back.

‘And who’s this then?’ she asked, leaning over and pressing a kiss to the top of Rosie’s head, her curls ticking her face. 

‘Ducky!!’ exclaimed Rosie excitedly, pointing enthusiastically towards the rabbit, ‘Quack, quack, quack!’

Alyssa frowned, looking up at Emma who came to crouch at her other side, a tired look in her eyes.

‘Um, I-‘ she began, but was cut off swiftly by her wife.

‘Please, just go with it,’ Emma whispered defeatedly.

Alyssa smiled softly, straightening Emma’s glasses affectionately as she turned back to the hutch.

‘Okay,’ she replied, voice low, ‘but you have to be the one to tell her when she’s old enough to realise!’

Emma rolled her eyes, still looking into the hutch.

Alyssa looked between her wife and her daughter, both seemingly as enraptured as the other by the rabbit in front of them, a warm feeling bubbling in her chest.

She felt content and so full of love. She felt like she’d finally found where she belonged.

But most of all, looking around at the various rabbit paraphernalia and pet care books strewn across the carpet, she felt glad that she hadn’t had to be the one to take Rosie to the pet store.

**Author's Note:**

> So, congrats if you made it this far, and I hope you enjoyed!! Comments and kudos are ofc always appreciated, and we're both super open to more ideas about what else we can write for Rosie. ((or like just if anyone wants to write about her too, pls pls go ahead))
> 
> Let me know what you thought in the comments, or come send me hate mail on tumblr at nodressrehearsal to tell us to stop spamming the tag if you can't stand all this Rosie content (which tbh would be very valid)
> 
> Until next time, pals!! Stay safe!


End file.
